Alison Kelly, Chief of Staff

Alison Kelly is the Chief of Staff at the Center for Outbreak Response Innovation.  Ms. Kelly has over 3 decades of public health experience, serving in a variety of leadership roles at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) both domestically and globally.  Most recently, she was based in Brazil, where she served as CDC’s Deputy Regional Director for South America and helped establish the South America Modeling and Outbreak Analytics Community of Practice.  She was the founding Deputy Director of CDC’s Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics and the Director of CDC’s Office of Appropriations for 5 years. Ms. Kelly also served in CDC’s offices in Beijing, China and Washington DC.  She led the development of CDC’s annual budget submission for fiscal years 2018-2022 and oversaw COVID-19 budget policy for over $60 billion in supplemental funding. 

Ms. Kelly earned a master’s degree in international and public affairs from the University of California San Diego, and a Bachelor of Arts from Dartmouth College. 

Expertise:

• Federal budget policy and processes
• Legislative analysis
• Public health program development
• Public health emergency response
• Global health 

Contact information: akelly55@jhu.edu